Here’s What You Should Do Before & After You Lose Your Precious Smartphone

In some ways, losing your phone is by far one of the worst things that can happen to anyone in today’s tech-heavy life. This fear is not only because of the smartphone being expensive, but losing the memories and data on the devices hurts far more. Both Android and iOS come built in with features to help you locate and find your lost phone.

Let’s get started with these so you’re prepared for the worst.

Preparation On iOS

If you’re an iPhone user, you need to get a few things in check. Firstly, make sure you know what Apple ID you have signed up your phone with. This is crucial as this will be the only thing to help you connect with your phone in the event of its loss.

Now what you need to do is enable ‘Find my iPhone’ within the settings. Enabling this will give the user access to track the device using its GPS and internet connection.

In order to enable ‘Find my iPhone’ all you need to do is enter Settings=> Tap on your Apple ID=> Tap iCloud=> Scroll down for ‘Find my iPhone’=> Enable it.

Finding your lost iPhone

Now when your device gets lost or misplaced, simply go to www.icloud.com on a computer browser, and log in using the Apple ID saved on the misplaced iPhone.

Look for ‘Find my iPhone’ from the menu.

It normally asks for your password again. Enter the password if prompted.

Now when you see the map, click on All devices on the top of the page, and look for the iPhone that has been lost or misplaced.

The map will now be able to show you the approximate location of your device. This will only work if the device is connected to the internet. If the internet has been disconnected, it’ll show you its last location when it was connected to the internet. This might not be very accurate, but you could get a general idea for the device’s location.

If it is still connected, you can make it play a sound, even if it’s on silent. This will help you to locate the device if it’s at home or work, and you’re unable to find it.

You can also put it on ‘Lost Mode’ where you’ll be asked to enter a number that will be flashed on the lock screen of your device. So if someone has found your iPhone, they can contact you with the number being flashed on the screen.

The last option you have is ‘Erase’ which basically will delete everything from your iPhone, making the data inaccessible to anyone who gets their hands on your device. This should always be the last option to go for when there is no hope of retrieving the device back.

Preparation on Android

Similar to iPhone, Android devices also come with a security feature to find the lost Android smartphone.
In case of Android, however, you will need to remember the credentials of the Google account that you used to sign into the smartphone. Once you have this ready, we can proceed with the preparation phase.

In order to enable ‘Find my Device’ on Android, head on to Settings=> Security and Fingerprints=> Device Administrators=> Enable Find my device.

Also, you’ll need to always keep the GPS of your device on for location tracking of your device. This would suck a bit of your battery, so do this when you’re normally commuting or stepping out. This will help you save a bit of your battery.

Finding your lost Android

If you’ve lost or misplaced your Android, head to www.google.com/android/find

Here it’ll ask you to log into your Google account. Enter the credentials and continue

It’ll now show you a list of devices registered on the network.

Select the device that is lost.

If you had GPS enabled, it’ll show an approximate location where the device is currently.

You get similar options like iOS where you can ask it to play a sound or remotely locking the device.

Under remote locking, you also get the option to add a message and contact number for anyone with the phone to contact its owner.

You also get the option of erasing the data remotely if you have no hope of retrieving the device.